Glutened by Contaminated White Corn Flour

[Gloria]

I'm almost positive that I've been glutened by contaminated white corn flour. I was in the bathroom several times during the day and several more times after I went to bed on Wednesday. I ate some homemade white corn tortillas for lunch on Tuesday. Before I knew I had been glutened, I made some waffles with said corn flour, and in the evening, ate some gravy thickened with it. I didn't eat any yesterday or today I'm feeling fine, even though I ate yellow corn muffins and tortillas.

Now I have a dilemma. White corn flour is available at two stores in my town, but they both carry the same brand: Swad. I threw out one bag, suspecting it was contaminated. The next bag I opened was also contaminated. The packaging gives the usual warning that it's manufactured on the same equipment as other flours. I guess I've been lucky up to this point.

I'm switching to yellow corn flour, which is labeled GF and readily available from Bob's Red Mill, for my corn muffins and can easily purchase ready-made yellow corn tortillas. But I still want to use white corn flour for my waffles, pancakes and maple muffins because it doesn't have any flavor of its own.

I've also been using corn grits made by Quaker Oats in my soup to thicken it and haven't noticed a problem, but the packaging doesn't state that it's gluten-free. I was going to grind the grits into a flour, but I'm not sure I can depend on the package to be GF.

Honeyville Grains sells a 50 lb. bag of white corn flour, but says it may contain soy particles. Their 50 lb. bag of white corn kernels doesn't warn of any potential allergens. Is my safest bet to buy white corn kernels and grind my own flour? I have a grinder, so that's not a problem. Is the possibility of contamination for corn much less if kernels are ground than if flour is purchased?

Gloria

[tex]

Honeyville Grains sells a 50 lb. bag of white corn flour, but says it may contain soy particles. Their 50 lb. bag of white corn kernels doesn't warn of any potential allergens. Is my safest bet to buy white corn kernels and grind my own flour? I have a grinder, so that's not a problem. Is the possibility of contamination for corn much less if kernels are ground than if flour is purchased?

What a bummer that corn flour can't even be trusted.

IMO, yes, it's safer to grind the corn yourself, because you can visually inspect it for contaminants. Soy and wheat seeds are large enough to be easily visible if you spread the grain on a table, and rake the corn aside with your fingertips, leaving any smaller contaminants where they can be seen.

Unfortunately, the differences in the labeling is due to the way that the labeling laws are written. I'm pretty sure that the labeling laws in Illinois are quite similar to the labeling laws in Texas. Since I used to process and sell both whole corn (in 3 different colors) and cornmeal, I'm familiar with the labeling laws. Basically, whole grains, which may be cleaned, but to which no other ingredients are added, fall under very liberal labeling laws. All the law requires is that the name of the grain appear on the container, along with the name and address of the guarantor (the processor/vendor). In the case of corn, a statement certifying compliance with aflatoxin regulations must be included, and a simple listing of protein, fiber and fat content has to be somewhere on the container. In northern states, where aflatoxin is not considered to be a problem (such as Illinois), an aflatoxin statement may not be required, and if that is the case, then an analysis statement (listing protein, fiber and fat content) may not be required either, depending on the position of the Illinois state chemist.

"Processed" grains (such as flours, especially if they have any additives), require more detailed labeling, because they fall into the category of "processed foods" (since they are no longer whole grains). Therefore, Honeyville Grains may be making flour from the same corn that they sell as whole grain, but the labeling laws dictate the differences in the labels.

I would either stick with flour labeled as GF, or make my own (if possible), and if I made my own, I would carefully inspect the grain (and hand separate it if necessary) to make sure that no foreign grains are present.

You're getting to be quite an expert food detective. It didn't take you long to track down that problem.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

Gloria
that sucks big time, do you think it has always had the contamination? and you are only now reacting?

the Bob's Red Mill products are here in Aus, i use the aluminium free baking powder and baking soda

hope things improve soon and you can start planning your next road trip

take care

[Gloria]

do you think it has always had the contamination? and you are only now reacting?

That possibility has certainly crossed my mind. I've wondered if the contamination has been below my reaction threshold and this latest batch had enough to overload my system.

It would explain the last two years, which is when I reintroduced corn into my diet. However, it wouldn't explain why I wasn't able to achieve remission for the three years I was following a GF, CF, EF, and SF diet, along with other intolerances I had identified. I used to grind the grains/seeds I used then. I've become intolerant to all of them during the past five years. Corn is the only one left. If I become intolerant to corn, I'll starve.

Hopefully, grinding my own kernels will ensure no more contamination.

Gloria

[Gabes-Apg]

Gloria
just a pondering - maybe some of your flares were based on the contamination levels of the different batches??

it is criminal that we have to pay 3 -4 times more for 'staples' flours milk etc to try and ensure we are getting a good quality product that wont cause inflammation...

[Gloria]

just a pondering - maybe some of your flares were based on the contamination levels of the different batches??

I've thought that I found "The Problem Food" so many times over the last five years that I don't even think that way anymore. I just eliminate the next food in line that gives me problems and hope I stabilize. I suppose that some corn flour batches could have caused some issues, but if so, it was just one of many foods to do so.

I have a small bag of white corn kernels that I bought from an Indian food store. I'll carefully sift through the kernels and grind it into flour tomorrow. Hopefully things will improve with the home-ground flour. They've improved already since I stopped using the purchased corn flour, but no Normans yet. I can wait. As you know, this disease teaches us to be patient.

Thank you for your interest and concern.

Gloria

[MaggieRedwings]

Gloria, you are definitely the Queen of patience. God bless you!

Love, Maggie

[draperygoddess]

Gloria, FWIW, I believe a lot of my problems early on were due to contaminated cornmeal. At first I thought I was reacting to corn in general, but then I tried regular cooked corn and was absolutely fine. I don't have all the restrictions you do, so corn flour isn't critical, but I don't trust anything not labeled GF.

Hope you're back on track soon! Let us know how you do with the grinding experiment!

[Gloria]

Maggie,
You are my role model; I learned my patience for this disease from you. Thank you for your example and your kind comments.

Let us know how you do with the grinding experiment!

I sifted the dried corn kernels and ground it today. It was different grinding the corn than it was grinding all of the other, smaller grains/seeds. My grinder stopped working, and I was worried that I clogged it. Then I changed the setting to "coarse" instead of "very fine", and it easily ground the rest of the corn. The flour wasn't as fine as I wanted, though it was finer than corn grits. So...I ground it again on the "very fine" setting and it worked very well.

I didn't find anything suspicious amongst the kernels, so I'm hopeful this will be a solution. I don't like the idea of grinding it twice, but you do what you have to do.

Now, I'm worried about the store-purchased yellow corn tortillas and Del' Alpe polenta that I'm using - what are the possibilities of them being contaminated? The yellow corn tortillas contain corn and lime - no other additives, and only cost 29 cents for a dozen. They are very convenient and are made in Chicago, so they are also fairly fresh. I'm probably better off going back to my homemade tortillas, but I go through a lot of the flour. I wrote Del' Alpe an email this morning asking about gluten.

I haven't made anything with the flour yet. Grinding it and cooking a lamb roast were enough cooking for today.

Gloria

[brandy]

Hi Gloria,

We learn a lot from you! I've implemented your cooked pork roast in the freezer ziplock bags procedure and pull a little out every day. Brandy

[Gloria]

Brandy,
I'm glad you can use the freezing meats tip. It saves me a lot of time and cooking.

I received a reply from Del' Alpe today regarding their polenta:

The Polenta is make of corn,
But it is stored in a warehouse along with
wheat pasta products. So their might be
cross contamination.

I'm not sure that answers my question. It sounds a little more like a CYA answer. I just wrote El Milagro and expect the same type of response.

I did notice that Trader Joe's sells GF corn grits. I think I'll see how much they are. Maybe I can grind my corn flour from them. They also sell GF corn tortillas, but most corn tortillas have preservatives in them. I need to check them out.

Gloria

[Gloria]

I received a response from El Milagro today regarding their corn tortillas:

All our corn products are gluten free.

That's very straightforward and reassuring. Their products are available in Chicago, Illinois; Austin, Texas; and Chamblee, Georgia.

Gloria

[Gloria]

The contamination problem continues...

I threw out my old corn flour, three types of muffins, waffles and pancakes and have substituted El Milagro yellow corn tortillas for my homemade white. Plus, I'm using the white corn flour I ground from whole kernels. Yesterday I woke up with a bellyache that had bothered me all night. This is very unusual for me because I never feel pain from MC. (I know I'm lucky.) I went to the bathroom 4 times in 2 hours while being on 6 mg. Entocort and 1/2 Imodium.

The trail of contamination has grown.

I remembered that I thickened the turkey gravy I ate the night before using an new bag of corn flour from SWAD. It must be contaminated also.

I also cooked the turkey in an "oven bag" which had 2 tbsp. of corn flour added.

I made my turkey broth using the aforementioned turkey carcass and vaguely recall adding some juice from the bag to the finished broth.

I'm going to cook another turkey as soon as the weather cools off. DH is eating the turkey on sandwiches and I'm throwing out the gravy and juice. I hate to get rid of the broth because it takes all day to make it, and afterward, I can it in jars. I guess I have to do it. DH isn't interested in the broth.

Trader Joe's sells GF-labeled corn grits and corn polenta, so I bought both. I probably need to throw out the Quaker Oats and Aunt Jemima grits, though I don't think I've had problems with them. Has anyone else had problems with them? They don't have the GF label, and I'm now wary of anything w/o it.

Things settled down this morning, so maybe I'm getting to the end of the trail.

I canned my first jars of mangoes today. It was messy, but the jars turned out well. I hope I can continue to eat the mangoes. I've been worried that they were a problem.

Gloria